History’s against Woods;
But Woods makes history – The Masters Tournament
AUGUSTA, Ga. – If Tiger Woods can win a U.S. Open with a torn knee ligament and two tiny knee fractures, can he win the Masters all whole and healthy and trailing by seven shots going into the final round? History says no. But then, Woods, who has won four Masters, keeps making history.
He shot 70 in the third round Saturday, and is seven behind co-leaders Angel Cabrera and Kenny Perry.
Woods has never come from behind after trailing through three rounds to win a Masters in seven tries. His two closest: In 2007, when he started the final round tied for second, a stroke behind, and shot 72 and finished tied for second. In 2008, he was fifth, six behind, shot 72, and finished solo second.
His final-round scores in these tries were 70, 75, 69, 75, 70, 72 and 72.
Woods started the third round seven behind and 2 under par, and got as far as 4 under, but he had already overloaded himself with a double bogey-6 at No. 1.
“Three-putting the first hole and making double, just put myself right behind the 8-ball,” Woods said. “But man, I fought hard to get it back today. That was a hell of a fight.”
That included five birdies and a bogey at the 11th to go with the double at No. 1. What does20he think of his chances?
“Well, it depends,” he said, while Perry and Chad Campbell were still leading out on the course. “If Kenny and Chad go off and shoot two, three, four more under par, it almost puts it out of reach for us. But if they come back a little bit or stay where they’re at, we’ve still got a chance.”
Was there anything he wanted to work on?
“Yeah,” he said. “I need to eat right now.”
YOUR AVERAGE WEEKEND 9 – Padraig Harrington’s chances of winning a third straight major deteriorated badly, and probably died, after that tee shot at Augusta’s pushover No. 2, a par-5 that should file abuse charges. He rang up a quadruple bogey-9 worthy of the Gasoline Dealers Wednesday Evening League.
Harrington, who won the British Open and the PGA Championship last year, drove into the trees, wide left, on the downhill hole. Next he hit a tree, and the ball caromed into a bush, where he was unplayable. He took a penalty drop, and knocked the next shot off a tree and into the little stream that runs along, out of sight. And so another penalty drop, a pitch to the fairway, a shot to the green, and two putts for his 9. What little chance he’d had in this Masters had disappeared. Harrington fought his way back to a 1-over 73, and was a distant 10 shots off the lead.
PAR 3 POISON Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez was making his way comfortably through the second round, till he hit the par-3 12th. There, he plugged his tee shot behind the green and double-bogeyed, then tripled the 16th and shot 78, one off his highest-ever Masters score.
NO-BOGEY-MEN – Steve Stricker and Justin Rose turned in the only bogey-free cards of the third round. Stricker shot 68, Rose 71. Jim Furyk was bogey-free with a 66 in the first round, and Kenny Perry with a 67 in the second.
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